We ran down the trades, and keeping well to the southward in order to catch the "brave westerlies" as soon as possible, we came in sight of Tristan d'Acunha, a noble, symmetrical mountain island, 8,326 feet high, its top covered with snow. We were becalmed in sight of it for several hours, and enjoyed resting our eyes, wearied with gazing for weeks upon the dancing water, by fixing them on this grand, immovable mass. Books gave an interesting account of a colony formed here; but we were not near enough to perceive any signs of human life. The lazy rolling of the bark in the swell, made even the idea of a residence on the snowy peak seem attractive, and there was comfort in thinking of a future world which is to be all land.
A breeze, springing up from the north-east, gradually freshened. The sea being quite smoothed down by the calm, we were able to carry a press of canvas; and with all sail set and the yards braced up, the bark lay down on her side, and made a run of 261 miles in 24 hours, and the day after, she made 252 miles. The fore topgallantmast was then found to be sprung, and a new one had to be put in its place. While sending it up, we overtook and passed a brig, loafing along under reefed topsails, evidently seeming to think it was blowing a gale of wind, whereas we had our main-royal set. This showed why some vessels make long passages.
We sped along swiftly, passing the Cape of Good Hope when 61 days out, and running along the parallel of 40° S., a succession of gales helped us onward. The weather was chilly, often wet and disagreeable, but our good progress kept us cheerful. One night was especially exhilarating, when running in a north-west gale, with the wind quartering, under reefed canvas, the bark flying away, at the rate of 14 knots, from wind, rain, thunder, lightning and towering waves. There is some sublimity in a sailor's life, and this wild scene was a good specimen of it. I enjoyed standing by the bitts and singing at the top of my voice some hymns expressing trust in the Creator, knowing that the noise of the elements made the sound inaudible to the crew. As we neared Amsterdam Island, the weather continued rainy, and there was no chance for observations by which to verify our position. On the day I expected to pass it, the sun appeared, most providentially, just at noon for a moment. I caught the altitude with my sextant and found the latitude. But I had no means of determining the longitude. We were a few miles south of the latitude of the island, so I steered due east, keeping a hand on the lookout to watch for the land, as I desired to sight it to verify the reckoning and the chronometers. No land appeared; a dark night was coming on, and I felt anxious at running down so nearly in the latitude of the island; but at evening-time it was light, and at 6, P.M., we saw the noble mass of land, nearly three thousand feet high, bearing off the weather-quarter. We had already sailed by it, within five miles distance.
One feature of great interest in these latitudes is the presence of sea-birds. The noble Albatross, the king of sea-birds, is almost always in sight, floating in the air about the vessel, no matter how fast she goes. Its wings seldom move, and what its propelling power is, no one can tell. It seems to depend only on its volition. The Stormy Petrel or "Mother Carey's Chicken," is here and everywhere else on the ocean. The pretty white and black Cape Pigeons flock in the wake. We caught several of these with small fish-hooks, and tried their value as component parts of a pigeon-pie, but the flavor was rather strong and oily. The homely, black Cape Hens are numerous also. They always bring to my mind a scene witnessed on a former voyage. Coming on deck one Sunday, I found the mate and passengers engaged in tying pieces of pork and bits of red flannel at each end of a string and throwing them overboard. The Cape Hens greedily swallowed the pork, and several of them were flying about with streamers hanging from their mouths; another trick was to tie several pieces of pork to the same string. Two or three birds darting at these, and each swallowing a piece, they would rise in the air tied together. I took the part of the hens on this occasion, and let the mate brace the yards for a while.
The weather was cool in these latitudes, and it was no longer agreeable to sit on deck. Our evenings were usually passed in the cabin, and I employed some of the hours in reading to the passenger an account of my experiences in the ship Dublin. I explained to him that it was written while I was officer of a ship, and had no leisure to attempt literary embellishment. Its sole object was to record the events relating to the management of the crew, and I requested him to forbear criticism of its style.
CHAPTER III.
THE VOYAGE OF THE "DUBLIN."
My first voyage, as officer, was made in the good ship "Dublin." She was six hundred tons register, and of the style said to be built, Down East, by the mile and sawed off. Her bow and stern were so square, they gave an impression of truth to this statement, but for all that she was a staunch, well built vessel, and though twenty-one years old was still an able and trustworthy ship. Her worthy owner, one of the merchant princes of Boston, used to go down on the wharf and rub his hands with delight when the old "Dublin" came into port. She was his favorite ship, and her blunt bow was more attractive to him than the rakish model of the modern clippers. He would tell how the copper bolts were driven into her, only one inch a day, to make them "fit solid;" how the timbers were "scarfed" and "dowelled," and many other things that it would need a ship builder's manual to interpret. He considered a great honor had been done me, by the permission to go to sea as third mate of her, and shook his head with misgivings when he heard that the captain had engaged so young and inexperienced an officer. I had been to sea four voyages, one of them over fourteen months around the world, before the mast. I could hand, reef and steer, and do the ordinary work on the rigging, as well as most sailors, so I did not consider my presumption very great.